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]]>We, the mob. We are born as weaklings, naked, feeble, and lame. The story of our lives is such that we can choose to a degree how we die, but in our birth, we have no say at all. We do not choose the time and place of our birth, nor we choose to whom we are born. If it were up to us, we would choose to be born to the richest parents belonging to the noblest race and the highest caste, princes and princesses, fair in color and high in rank.
But unfortunately, We, the mob, cannot choose, it is decided by nature, and nature is cruel. Most of us are born to poor, low caste, and ignoble parents. We are born as peasants and slaves, dark in complexion and low in rank. Childhood is oblivious, but as our eyes begin to open, we learn who is who, who is low and who is high, who is similar and who is different, who is pure and who is impure, who is to be accepted and who rejected, who is to be embraced and who is to be detested, who is to be loved and favored and who is to be hated and abhorred. Society, religion, and customs teach us to act in a certain way. This way decides the acceptance and rejection that we have in society.
Society is a cruel animal. It believes in customs that cannot be broken and should be respected. If “We, the mob” break its customs, we become outcasts. The fear of being outcasts makes us act appropriately.
We, the mob, detest the religion of our forefathers. We believe that religion was evil because it forced the customs of race and caste; it enforced untouchability, it preached Brahmin was superior. Shudra was low, but Chammar was a vermin, the true scum of the earth. We embraced the Arab imperialism; for us, Syeds are Brahmins, Mullahs are Pandits, and we serve the one true religion given by Allah through his beloved messenger. Our forefathers’ religion discriminated in the name of caste, but our new religion discriminates in the name of religion itself. Here the mantle of Shudras is taken by the kuffaar. They are the scum of earth and fodder for hell.
We, the mob, kill them because they are blasphemers. There are some who we stab, others we shoot, and there were some for whom We, the mob, could not wait for hellfire to pass judgment. We, the mob, can not let the peasants go free. We smite them with our anger; we issue a decree that they should be burnt alive for burning a few pages written in Arabic. Why should we not burn them alive? not only that, we also want to play a little; we beat them with clubs as their babes watch and cry. Babes shout for mercy, but we, the mob, are deaf. Why should we listen to what a lowly Churra says? How dare they ask us for their rightful wage, how dare they! Let us rip their bloody clothes off their bodies, let us have a look at them naked, let us see them beg a little more, let us have a little more fun, let them shout, let them beg, let them whine. We, the mob, have seen a naked pregnant Churri; let us kick her in the belly, let us make her feel the pain, let us see the reaction on her man’s face. We, the mob, brought a hammer, break! Break! Break their legs, tie them up and drag them behind a tractor.
Their Babes are crying, following us in the streets; we, the mob, kick them, we curse them. Let us now bring them to the kiln; let us see how the kiln cooks two dark bricks. We, the mob, burn these unbelievers, our god, our Allah, will save us from the eternal fire. We the mob are content, and we are doing Allah’s work; he is pleased, he smiles, Satan is weeping, he is sad, We, the mob, have brought justice upon his minions. We, the mob are happy, we the mob are victorious, We the mob are euphoric.
We, the mob, have solved all our problems. We the mob are saved, we are mesmerized, we have burnt our problems away, we the mob have cleaned our land of all the problems. Today is a happy day. Tomorrow is another story, but today we are free, happy, and content, today we have done something for God, today we have made him happy, today we have no tolls, today we are painless, today we are numb, but tomorrow is another story another day and another mob.
Shamma and Shahzad – Killed on charges of blasphemy in Pakistan on 4th November, 2014
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]]>No Doubt Khadim Hussain Rizvi was one of the most dangerous influences on the Pakistani masses. In the Pakistani Constitution, there are Islamic laws that discriminate against women and religious minorities. But the most dangerous is the Blasphemy law, which demands the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Muhammad and the Quran. Pakistani minorities are disproportionately high victims of the blasphemy law. Since their inception in General Zia ul Haq’s regime back in the 80s, thousands of cases have been filed. It is nearly impossible to get bail in a blasphemy case.
Khadim Hussain and nearly all mainstream Mullahs in Pakistan preach death for blasphemy. Khadim Hussain always praised vigilante justice against people alleged of Blasphemy. Last month, when a Muslim man in France beheaded a teacher named Samuel Patty, Khadim Hussain praised this act of terrorism and demanded that Pakistan stand againstBlasphemy’se French government. Khadim Hussain demanded that the Pakistani Government should openly warn the French ambassador with the threat of a nuclear war. Though hardly anyone in the government took what he said seriously, millions in Pakistan sincerely follow his teachings and believe that Muslims should behead anyone who utters a single word to dishonor the prophet. Soon after Samuel Patty’s death, a Pakistani asylum seeker in France stabbed two people outside Charlie Hebdo’s previous office. This young man did this in response when Charlie Hebodor republished the Cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.
Khadim Hussain Rizvi and his followers praised the stabbing outside Charlie Hebdo’s old office. French government displayed Charlie Hebdo cartoons on state buildings after this incident. This, in turn, triggered Khadim Hussain and his lot of Aashiqaan e Rasool(Lovers of the Prophet). He called for a sit-in Strike in Islamabad and demanded that the Pakistani government should expel all French diplomats from Pakistan. He also demanded that Pakistan end all diplomatic relations with France by closing the Pakistani Embassy in Paris.
Late November in Islamabad is cold, and Pakistan happens to be a country where Covid 19 has not been taken seriously. The government has not shown any interest in containing the pandemic. Khadim Hussain’s sit-in strike gathered thousands of followers in Islamabad who did not follow any health guidelines. No one was wearing masks or socially distancing. This truly was a super spreader event. Maulana Khadim Hussain Rizvi himself was wheelchair laden for the last two decades. He also had diabetes. Just two days after he and his followers ended their fiasco in Islamabad, his followers brought him to Farooq Hospital in Lahore. According to the medical staff, he was dead on arrival. The death certificate does not mention a specific reason for death, which shows that he died of Covid 19. The next day millions of people took part in his funeral at Minar e Pakistan, Lahore.
Khadim Hussain’s death saddened many. I was not happy either, I sad for the people killed by his words. Salman Taseer was killed because of the narrative that Khadim Hussain was preaching, shot point-blank by his own security Guard. Late Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti was also killed because he spoke out for Asia Bibi like Salman Taseer. Asia Bibi spent many years behind bars because of the hatred preached by Khadim Hussain and others. Mullahs threaten courts and Judges in Blasphemy cases. Rashid Rehman represented Junaid Hafeez, a Baha ud Din Zikria University Lecturer accused of blasphemy. Advocate Rashid Rahman was receiving repeated death threats for representing Junaid in court. He was killed in his chambers on the 7th of May, 2014. Asia Bibi’s lawyer family and relatives were repeatedly threatened. When the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted her, Khadim Hussain pressurized the government to review the decision, and her release was further delayed. Mashal Khan, a university youth, was killed by his own university fellows on allegations of blasphemy. The story goes on and on; Khadim Hussain and Islamic Extremists like him have made Pakistan a living hell for religious minorities. Allegations of blasphemy have increased a hundredfold since the 90s.
Pakistan has become a perilous place for people with a difference of opinion. Muslims all over the world are taking the issue of Blasphemy to another extreme. They are starting a new time in which any criticism of Islam can get someone killed. But is it the Muslim or is it Islam that is truly barbaric, extreme and uncompromising, people who know Islam know that Islam is the disease and terrorist is the carrier, Khadim Hussain was just one among millions? It will take decades if not centuries to reverse what he has sown in Pakistan and sadly many people will lose their lives because of him.
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